BRITISH CAR INDUSTRY

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27912, 8 March 1956, Page 13

BRITISH CAR INDUSTRY

Workers’ Fear Of Slump (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 10 p.m.) LONDON, March 7 Politicians fearing a big British industrial slump bombarded the Government in the House of Commons last night with questions about dismissals and short-time working in the radio and automobile trades. Mr Maurice Edelman. Labour member for Coventry, where a production drop has put many car workers on a four-day week said: “It is a grim and threatening picture. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, though he pays lip service to full employment, is, through his policy of deflation, deliberately and wilfully creating unemployment in the motor industry.”

Another Labour member. Mr A. E. Hunter, said there were signs of "a great slump” developing in the radio ndustry.

The Minister of Labour, Mr lain Macleod. said the number of vacancies in Britain was still very much larger than the number of unemployed. In January there had been an aggregate rise of £731.000 in the wages of 1,992,000 British workers. A deputation of trade union officials from the automobile centres of Birmingham. Coventry. Oxford. Luton and Dagenham met members of Parliament today to protest about the threat of unemployment.

About 20.000 men are estimated to be on short working weeks in the industry. For most engineering workers this has meant a drop of about £2 in their weekly earnings. Workers in many other industries dependent on car manufacturing—paint, glass, electric wire, carpets—are scared the slump will hit them too. British second-hand car dealers, hit by Government restrictions on hire purchase, are offering gifts to customers who buy cars over a certain price. One London firm today offered the alternatives of a free suit or costume, an evening at a night-club, a week at a ho’iday camp, an electric shaver, or a power-tool kit to the purchaser of every car over £125.